1. Power on the machine2. At the white ACER BIOS screen, hold the “Alt” key and press the “F10” key simultaneously to start Acer eRecovery3. Once eRecovery has loaded, click “Restore to Factory Default Settings”4. Click “OK” to continue5. From here, the eRecovery process will update all the data on the C: drive and restore a fully functional factory image (approximately 10 minutes).6. Once eRecovery has run, press “OK” to reboot unit

1. Reboot, and press Ctrl + F11 at the Dell logo.2. The Dell™ PC Restore by Symantec screen will come up.3. Select "Restore" or use the Tab key to highlight it and press Enter.4. if you wish to continue, click "Confirm", or use the Tab key to highlight it and press Enter.5. When the utility is finished, click "Finish", or use the Tab key to highlight it and press Enter.

1. Reboot, and repeatedly press F10 at the HP logo until the recovery screen appears.2. When the recovery screen appears, press "Next" and then "Yes" to perform a non-destructive recovery.3. To perform a destructive recovery, click "Advanced" and then "Yes".4. After the recovery is finished, the laptop will reboot.

1. Reboot, and press F11 or the R key to start the recovery process.2. Select either "Full System Restore (Destructive)" or "Full System Restore (With Backup)"*.3. Click "Next", and then click "Yes" to confirm the recovery process.4.Wait for the computer to restore itself. When it is done, click "Reboot" to reboot the computer.

*Full System Restore With Backup preserves data in the My Documents folder, but requires 4 GB of disk space.

Later model Gateways use the ALT + F10 key combination to enter the recovery process.(Courtesy of user sarla)

If your laptop is NEW it is encouraged to create the Recovery Discs as soon you booted it up the first time. Most laptop makers do not include the Recovery Discs in your laptop purchase. What is included is a recovery partition. Similar to a Recovery Disc this partition can be used to restore your system fresh to factory default settings, just like how it was when you first got it out of the box. Without the Recovery Discs, it would be almost impossible to restore back to factory defaults especially if a virus renders the recovery partition useless and defective.

By the way the RECOVERY DISCS are NOT BACKUP discs. They do not include your personal files or the programs you installed on your own. They just 'recover' your system to how it was out of the box.

If your laptop is not NEW but you still have the recovery partition intact, you can still create the Recovery Discs.

The following are links to the documents on how to create a Recovery CD: